Nation pauses on 9/11 to pay tribute to victims NEW YORK (AP) — Life in lower Manhattan resembled any ordinary day on Wednesday as workers rushed to their jobs in the muggy heat, but time stood still at the World Trade Center site while families wept for loved ones who perished in the terror attacks 12 years ago. For the families, the memories of that day are still vivid, the pain still acute. Some who read the names of a beloved big brother or a cherished daughter could hardly speak throug...

White House: Russian prestige on the line in Syria WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House tried Wednesday to pin the success or failure of a diplomatic option to secure Syria’s chemical weapons on Russia rather than the United States as Secretary of State John Kerry headed for Geneva to work on a Russian proposal for international inspectors to seize and destroy the deadly stockpile. On a different diplomatic front aimed at taking control of the stockpile away from the Assad government, the five pe...

President Obama's speech on SyriaText of President Barack Obama's speech on Syria, as provided by the Federal News Service: My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria, why it matters and where we go from here. Over the past two years, what began as a series of peaceful protests against the repressive regime of Bashar al-Assad has turned into a brutal civil war. Over a hundred thousand people have been killed. Millions have fled the country. In that time, A...

Looming Syria vote prompts protests WASHINGTON (AP) — Anti-war protesters gathered outside the White House on Saturday to voice their opposition to a U.S. military strike in Syria, calling their picket line one that Congress shouldn’t cross as it prepares to vote on the issue. At least 150 protesters picketed the sidewalk in front of the White House and marched to Capitol Hill, chanting slogans like “They say more war; we say no war” and carrying signs that said a war on Syria w...

Family income not a factor as students eat free BOSTON (AP) — Some students toted lunchboxes to the first day of school in Boston this week, but district administrators are expecting that could become a more unusual sight as parents learn about a federal program that is now providing all public school students in the city with free breakfast and lunch. The nation’s oldest school system has joined a program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that has spread to 10 states and the District o...

Syria, budget and debt top congressional agenda WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress returns to work facing a momentous vote on whether the United States should attack Syria, a question that overshadows a crowded and contentious agenda of budget fights, health care, farm policy and possible limits on the government’s surveillance of millions of Americans. Back Monday after a five-week break, many lawmakers stand as a major obstacle to President Barack Obama’s promised strikes against Syria amid fears...

Arizona woman released after decades on death row PHOENIX (AP) — An Arizona woman is getting her first taste of freedom in more than two decades after an appeals court overturned her murder conviction, setting the stage for a retrial as prosecutors seek to put her back on death row. Debra Milke walked out of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s jail Friday after supporters posted her $250,000 bond. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned her conviction in March, ruling that prosecutors should ha...

The job market Fed faces: healing but still ailing WASHINGTON (AP) — Just how sturdy is the U.S. job market? That’s the key question the Federal Reserve will face when it decides later this month whether to reduce its economic stimulus. The answer depends on where you look. The economy has added jobs for 35 straight months. Unemployment has reached a 4 1/2-year low of 7.3 percent. Layoffs are dwindling. Yet other barometers of the job market point to chronic weakness: The pace of hiring remain...

US-Mexico border groups want efficient crossings SAN DIEGO (AP) — Under the watch of a Border Patrol agent, U.S. and Mexican pastors set up two small altars — one on each side of a towering border fence — for their Sunday service that spans two countries. The priests then break bread simultaneously and hold up their challises to the tightly woven metal barrier. The guitar player is in Mexico, strumming a song led by clergy on the U.S. side. The buzzing of a passing Border Patrol officer on a...

Ohio kidnapper says police missed chance in 2004 COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A man who held three women for a decade in his Cleveland home said authorities missed an opportunity to catch him in 2004, because his picture should have been captured by a school security camera minutes before he abducted one of his victims, according to interrogation videotapes that became public Friday. In the video, deceased kidnapper Ariel Castro says cameras outside Gina DeJesus’ school should have captured him the...

Court stops Mont. judge from undoing rape sentence BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — Montana’s Supreme Court on Friday blocked a judge from resentencing a former teacher who got 30 days in prison for raping a 14-year-old student, a sentence widely criticized after the judge said the victim was “older than her chronological age.” Justices said Judge G. Todd Baugh lacked authority to impose a new sentence on former Billings teacher Stacey Rambold, 54. An appeal of the case already was pending from prosecut...

First lady: Anti-obesity effort is changing habits WASHINGTON (AP) — Michelle Obama said Friday that her anti-childhood obesity campaign is creating a “cultural shift” in how Americans live and eat, and is beginning to have a positive influence on children’s health. As an example, she cited something she said she couldn’t imagine when the “Let’s Move” program was launched nearly four years ago: television commercials pitching fast-food breakfast sandwiches made with healthier egg whites instea...

After years of decline, US births leveling off? ATLANTA (AP) — After falling four years in a row, U.S. births may finally be leveling off. The number of babies born last year — a little shy of 4 million — is only a few hundred less than the number in 2011, according to a government report released Friday. That suggests that lately, fewer couples may be scared away from having children because of the economy or other factors, some experts say. Among the signs of a possible turning point: The...

FBI, DHS: No specific threat to 9/11 anniversary WASHINGTON (AP) — The government is aware of no credible or specific information that points to any terror plot tied to the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, according to a new confidential threat assessment from the FBI and Homeland Security Department obtained by The Associated Press. The new assessment, dated Thursday, said that intelligence agencies remain concerned that al-Qaida and its affiliates are committed to carrying out at...

Car prices hit record as buyers load up on options DETROIT (AP) — Americans are paying record prices for new cars and trucks, and they have only themselves to blame. The average sale price of a vehicle in the U.S. hit $31,252 last month, up almost $1,000 over the same time last year. The sharp increase has been driven by consumers loading cars up with high-end stereos, navigation systems, leather seats and safety gadgets. It’s a buying pattern that began around two years ago with low interest ...

Woman accused of trying to kill autistic daughter DETROIT (AP) — A northern Michigan mother — who had chronicled in an online blog the challenges her family faced caring for their autistic 14-year-old daughter — has been charged in a warrant with attempted murder in what police believe was a failed attempt at killing herself and the girl. Kelli Stapleton, 45, was expected to be arraigned in the coming days after her release Thursday from a Grand Rapids hospital where she was treated for carbo...

Ohio man confesses in video killing man in crash COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — A driver has confessed in a video posted online that he’s to blame for a wrong-way car crash stemming from a night of heavy drinking that killed another man and says he’s willing to take “full responsibility.” The 3 1/2-minute video, posted on at least two websites on Tuesday, shows 22-year-old Matthew Cordle describing what led to the accident in which he killed the man three months ago. “My name is Matthew Cordle, and o...

US officials: US considers training Syria rebels WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration is considering a plan to use U.S. military trainers to help increase the capabilities of the Syrian rebels, in a move that would greatly expand the current CIA training being done quietly in Jordan, U.S. officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. Any training would take place outside Syria, and one possible location would be Jordan. The officials said no decision had been made, but that discussi...

Health law coverage may track workplace cost shift WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama’s health care law appears to mirror a trend in job-based insurance, where employees are being nudged into cost-saving plans that require them to pay a bigger share of their medical expenses. Two independent studies out this week highlighted attractive prices for less-generous “bronze” plans that will offer low monthly premiums but require patients to pick up more of the cost if they get sick. Consumers ...

Runaway truck flattens vehicle, hits home in Utah BOUNTIFUL, Utah (AP) — A red vehicle sitting in a Bountiful driveway was flattened Thursday morning after it was hit by a runaway semitrailer carrying 45 tons of sand. Nobody was injured in the crash that happened a little before 7 a.m. Thursday, but the front of a home was wrecked and the car crushed. The truck driver had been hauling a full load of sand up an incline on the way to Bountiful Ridge Golf Course when he attempted to downshift, a...